In July, a family email went around from our people living in Colorado to our people in Nebraska and Minnesota.

"Hey all," it said, "The Huskers are coming to Boulder, and you should, too!"

In the end, everyone declined because ... $250-$400 tickets.

Boulder fun

Activities schedule for the CU-NU game weekend, courtesy of Coloradans for Nebraska.

September 5

Hang out with former Huskers Tommie Frazier, Tony Davis and Josh Davis (maybe more) at the Big Red Weekend kickoff. Autograph proceeds will benefit the Coloradans for Nebraska Scholarship Fund and individual foundations and charities of the former players. Dinner and drinks at Bender's Bar and Grill, 10710 Westminster Blvd., Westminster, Colo.

September 6

The Nebraska Alumni Association will host Football Friday at Blake Street Tavern, 2301 Blake St., in Denver from 5-7 p.m. Free and open to the public. Seating limited. Food and drink available for purchase.

Also, sneak Peek of "Day by Day," a documentary chronicling Nebraska football during the '90s, at Embassy Suites in Boulder. For $100, those in attendance have the opportunity to hang out with the producer and former Nebraska players in attendance. 6-10 p.m. with appetizers and an open bar.

September 7

Blur Parties Boulder Husker Hospitality Tailgate, located five blocks north of Folsom Field at The Hiltons on Canyon Boulevard opens at 10 a.m. Package pricing ranges from $50 to $95 per ticket. For more information, call 402-882-2448.

But it reminded me of the days, especially when I was a University of Nebraska student, when 12,000 to 15,000 students and other Nebraskans would pack up and "migrate" to Boulder every other year, and turn Folsom Field red.

Migration, it was a thing for about 20 years before Colorado fans turned on Nebraska fans and kind of ruined the fun.

But before, we'd take dark, all-night October or November car rides leaving late Friday, listening to the radio, singing, chatting, napping, with college pals. We always found a place to stay on the CU campus or nearby student houses. Then an afternoon game in which the Huskers usually pulled out the win.

Some of you may remember the names that made those games so much fun and lived in Husker history for a long time: Joe Orduna, Guy Ingles, Van Brownson, Jerry Tagge, I.M. Hipp, Dave Humm, Jarvis Redwine.

After the game, the good times were fueled by 3.2 beer, Coors you couldn't buy in Nebraska at the time, because we had hit that golden age of 18. And we'd meet up with other students with whom we'd form fast friendships, and then quickly lose touch back home in Lincoln.

What happens in Boulder ...

Sunday morning we would road trip to quaint little mountain towns that just didn't stay quaint, so don't try to find them now. But really. So. Much. Fun.

Then Colorado coach Bill McCartney and Denver Post sports columnist Woody Paige (you remember nasty Woody Paige) kind of ruined things for a lot of Husker fans in the 1980s and '90s, insisting on a rivalry, at which Nebraskans turned up their noses.

Here's what Paige wrote in 2008:

"I used to make fun of Nebraska because it was easy, and some Nebraskans don’t have much of a sense of humor, and thousands of them live among us in Colorado (remember “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”), and from 1962-85 the Cornhuskers won 23 out of 24 games — and Nebraskans were rather presumptuous.

"Then, Cornhuskers football got rather ordinary — run-of-the-corn-mill — and Colorado pasted a couple of embarrassing 60-somethings on them and treated them like a pair of borrowed overalls, and it wasn’t as much fun to make fun of our little red-faced neighbors."

By 2000, Nebraskans were still embittered by the Colorado fans and their treatment. Butch Rasmussen of North Platte wrote in a letter to the Journal Star: "Most Nebraska football fans agree, Colorado fans are the worst in the country. Nobody stoops to the level of nastiness or vulgarities that we see in Boulder stores, Denver mall parking lots and the University of Colorado campus.

"Woody Paige and others in print and radio must take a lot of responsibility for the ugliness running rampant throughout the state of Colorado."

So here we are again, headed to the Boulder stadium Sept. 7 for the first time in 10 years. I was sure things had calmed down, then I talked to Mark Fesler, the Co4NU treasurer, who lives in Centennial, the south part of Denver.

You have run out of free stories. To continue reading, take advantage of our LOWEST offer yet!

Sorry, your subscription does not include this content.

You have free articles remaining.

He's been in Colorado since a couple of years after he graduated from NU in 1983, but he's a Nebraska season-ticket holder and comes to almost all of the Huskers' home games. He's got good seats, and gets to see his Westside High School buddies from Omaha.

"Over the last five years I've maybe missed two games altogether in Lincoln," he said.

He's not going to the game this year in Boulder. He gave his tickets to his kids, he said.

"Well, one, it's just a bad taste in my mouth about the CU game from years past," he said.

When McCartney, head coach from 1982-94, started printing Nebraska in red on the CU football schedule and putting a bull's-eye on NU fans, it stopped being fun to go to the games in Boulder, he said.

The CU students got mean. At one game, 10 years ago or so, security had to clear the entire Colorado student section because students were throwing things on the field. They would throw urine on fans and damage cars in the parking lot, he said.

Be the first to know - Sign up for Breaking News

Receive email alerts as soon as breaking news posts.

* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.

Not that he expects that to happen this year, he said, "but you harm me once, I just don't show up again."

Wendy Frenzel, acting president of Coloradans for Nebraska, told the Denver Post recently that CU was selling tickets to its season-ticket holders this spring with a caveat of, "Do not sell these to Nebraska people or you will lose these tickets, and your season tickets."

In that story, Sean Keeler, Denver Post writer, put it this way:

"Keep the Big Red out of Boulder?

When pigs fly.

When the moon turns blue.

When blood drips from a stone.

When Beelzebub takes a snowmobile to work."

And Fesler predicts: Folsom Field, 40% Big Red.

PhotoFiles: Crazy Husker fans

Larry the Cable Guy

Larry the Cable Guy poses with Kiss impersonators Steve Hernandez (from left), Brett Kay, Brett Gotch and Calvin Kramer, all from South Sioux City, on Oct. 31, 2009, at a game against Baylor in Waco, Texas.

Journal Star file photo

Letting loose

A group of Husker fans let loose during the Big 12 Championship Game at Cowboys Stadium on Dec. 4, 2010.

Journal Star file photo

JUST COOL IT

Nebraska fans Cody Siefker (left) and Corey Craig take a moment to cool down, take a break and vent some frustration at halftime during a game against Texas with Nebraska trailing 17-3 on Oct. 16, 2010, at Memorial Stadium.

Journal Star file photo

Fan in balloons

Nebraska freshman Brad Merritt makes his way though Memorial Stadium on Sept. 10, 2011, with balloons to sell to the Husker faithful.

FRANCIS GARDLER/Lincoln Journal Star file photo

Volleyball

The kill signs were out in force as Nebraska's Gina Mancuso got another one against Penn State at the NU Coliseum on Sept. 21, 2011.

Journal Star file photo

NU Fan Day, 8.18.18

A large inflatable of Herbie Husker dwarfs the large crowd on hand on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2018, during Fan Day at Memorial Stadium.

Cornhead

Fans

Nebraska fans try to fire up the team during the first quarter against Virginia Tech on Sept. 19, 2009, in Blacksburg, Va.

Journal Star file photo

2017 SPORTS YEAR END

Nebraska fan Aloise Ferris (left) of South Sioux City, Neb. got up out of her wheelchair and danced with Herbie Husker as the Cornhusker Marching Band played as they awaited the team's arrival at the East Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2017, at Memorial Stadium.

Natilly dressed fans

Fan solo

One Husker fan had all the right moves, just no one to watch him, as he danced up a storm during a first-half timeout at the Nebraska women's basketball game against Creighton on Nov. 17, 2008.

Journal Star file photo

BIRCH

Nebraska fan Aaron Birch cheers on the Huskers before the start of the Fiesta Bowl against Florida in Tempe, Ariz., on Jan. 2, 1996.

AP file photo

Nebraska vs. Illinois, 9/29/17

Nebraska fan Corey Nelson of Des Moines, Iowa, didn't last very long on a mechanical bull at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois, Friday, Sept. 29, 2017.

ERIC GREGORY, Journal Star

Belly button

Chance Vadnas seems to enjoy getting his belly button painted by Pat Lane (left) as they prepare themselves for some serious fan support of the Huskers for their game against Texas Tech on Oct. 17, 2009, at Memorial Stadium. Nick Deeds paints the back side of Vadnas.

Journal Star file photo

Husker Fans, 10/05/2013

The athletic department will spend $12.3 million to improve the sound system and Wi-Fi connectivity inside Memorial Stadium.

MEGAN FARMER/Journal Star file photo

Corn cookout

Randy Johnson of Northville, Mich., has everything he needs as he prepares for Nebraska vs. Michigan at Michigan Stadium on Nov. 19, 2011.

ERIC GREGORY/Lincoln Journal Star file photo

Ohio State vs. Nebraska, 1.21.2012

Red Zone fans show their displeasure at a call against the Huskers during a game against Ohio State at the Devaney Sports Center on Jan. 21, 2012.

Journal Star file photo

Suh

Nine-year-old Ryan Cooksley of Anselmo, Payden Borders, 10, from Broken Bow, and Griffin Wright, 8, also of Broken Bow, carry a message into Cowboys Stadium before the Big 12 Championship Game with Texas on Dec. 5, 2009, in Dallas.

ERIC GREGORY, Journal Star file photo

Crowd

Nebraska fans filled more than half of the east grandstand at Baylor's Floyd Casey Stadium on Oct. 31, 2009, in Waco, Texas.

Journal Star file photo

Waiting for tickets

David Hollingsworth of Omaha waits for his tickets to the Big 12 Championship Game at Cowboys Stadium on Dec. 4, 2010.

BOB PEARSON/For the Journal Star

Memorial Stadium

A fan throws up the bones in the student section in the southeast corner of Memorial Stadium on Nov. 21, 2009.